2. I wish …, If only ...
Remember: I wish and If only open sentences that are in Czech
known as “přací věty”. The rules governing their formation are the
same as those which hold for the clause following conditional
conjunction in 2nd or 3rd conditionals.
Compare:
If I had a piece of cloth, I would wipe the monitor with it.
X
I wish (If only) I had a piece of cloth (to wipe the monitor with).
If you gave me a Philips screwdriver, I would loosen the screw.
X
I wish (If only) you gave me a Philips screwdriver.
3. I wish …, If only ...
Compare:
They would have assembled the computer if they had not lost all
the belt cables.
X
I wish (If only) they had not lost all the belt cables.
If I had increased the buffer size, the computer would not have
reported buffer underruns.
X
I wish (If only) I had increased the buffer size.
Martin Dvořák:Martin Dvořák:
4. I wish …, If only ...
Other uses:
I wish, If only + would are used to express a wish for
something that the speaker finds annoying to change in the
future.
I hope …. is used to express a “neutral” wish concerning the
future.
Examples:
I wish (If only) he would not play with the live wire next time.
I wish (If only) the weather would improve.
I wish (If only) the computer would stop freezing.
I wish (If only) the monitor would not flicker that much.
I hope they (will) fix the drive by 6 o’clock.
I hope she (will) marries (marry) me one day.
5. Aspect - Perfective and
Imperfective
perfective aspect - dokonavý vid
imperfective aspect - nedokonavý vid
The imperfective aspect is usually expressed by means of
continuous tenses - stress is laid on duration (trvání).
Examples:
He was reconfiguring the system the whole afternoon.
The programmer has been writing the manual since he finished
the program.
They say it will be raining the whole day.
Remember: Some verbs cannot occur in continuous tenses or
they change their meaning in these (see Lecture 1).
6. Aspect - Perfective and
Imperfective
When, however, a sentence refers to a repeated action, simple
tense is used.
Examples:
He reconfigured the system every other day. not He was
reconfiguring …
The programmer usually wrote the manual when he was free. not
The programmer was usually writing …
When we were in Greece, it often rained. not it was raining
Notice: My monitor flickers every now and then. X My monitor is
flickering all the time. (expression of annoyance - see Lecture 1)
7. Aspect - Perfective and
Imperfective
One-off actions are usually expressed by means of have a +
infinitive (without “to”).
Examples:
I would like to have a shower if it’s O.K. with you. (osprchovat se)
How about having a drink? (napít se)
He wanted to have a dance with me, but I turned him down.
(zatančit si)
He was fired because he would often leave his office to have a
smoke. (zakouřit si)
May I have a look at it? It may only need some cleaning. (podívat
se)
8. Aspect - Perfective and
Imperfective
Expression of repetition in the past:
i. past simple:
He usually used a temporary file for storage of calculation
results.
They regularly failed to notice his negligence.
The modems never did the handshaking right with these
initialization strings.
9. Aspect - Perfective and
Imperfective
Expression of repetition in the past:
ii. would + infinitive without “to” expressing frequent repetition
He would ask for assistance whenever he was in trouble. (žádával
mě …)
I would get a blue screen after installation of some new hardware
under Windows 3.11. (setkávával se)
That operating system would give me sleepless nights on
weekends.
10. Aspect - Perfective and
Imperfective
Expression of repetition in the past:
iii. used + infinitive expressing frequent repetition and change
He used to play computer games when he was young. He no
longer does so. (hrával, ale už nehraje)
He used to chase chicks. (honil, ale už nehoní)
Windows used to be unstable, but now it is the best OS. (býval,
ale už není)
